Sexy ways: approaches to studying plant sex chromosomes.

Sex chromosomes have evolved in many plant species with separate sexes. Current plant research is shifting from examining the structure of sex chromosomes to exploring their functional aspects. New studies are progressively unveiling the specific genetic and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for shaping distinct sexes in plants.

Non-canonical bases differentially represented in the sex chromosomes of the dioecious plant Silene latifolia.

The oxidation of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5fC), and 5-carboxylcytosine (5caC), known as oxi-mCs, garners significant interest in plants as potential epigenetic marks. While research in mammals has established a role in cell reprogramming, carcinogenesis, and gene regulation, their functions in plants remain unclear. In rice, 5hmC has been associated with transposable elements (TEs) and heterochromatin.

Seed shape and size of , differences between sexes, and influence of the parental genome in hybrids with .

Introduction: Plants undergo various natural changes that dramatically modify their genomes. One is polyploidization and the second is hybridization. Both are regarded as key factors in plant evolution and result in phenotypic differences in different plant organs.

Quantitative Analysis of Seed Surface Tubercles in Species.

In the Caryophyllaceae, seed surfaces contain cell protrusions, of varying sizes and shapes, called tubercles. Tubercles have long been described in many species, but quantitative analyses with measurements of size and shape are lacking in the literature. Based on optical photography, the seeds of were classified into four types: smooth, rugose, echinate and papillose.

Curvature Analysis of Seed Silhouettes in L.

The application of seed morphology to descriptive systematics requires methods for shape analysis and quantification. The complexity of lateral and dorsal views of seeds of species is investigated here by the application of the Elliptic Fourier Transform (EFT) to representative seeds of four morphological types: smooth, rugose, echinate and papillose. The silhouettes of seed images in the lateral and dorsal views are converted to trigonometric functions, whose graphical representations reproduce them with different levels of accuracy depending on the number of harmonics.

The Outline of Seed Silhouettes: A Morphological Approach to (Caryophyllaceae).

Seed morphology is an important source of information for plant taxonomy. Nevertheless, the characters under study are diverse, and a simple, unified method is lacking in the literature. A new method for the classification of seeds of the genus based on optical images and image analysis has recently been described on the basis of morphological measurements of the lateral seed views.

Quadruplex-Forming Motif Inserted into 3'UTR of Retrotransposon Inhibits Retrotransposition in Yeast.

Guanine quadruplexes (G4s) serve as regulators of replication, recombination and gene expression. G4 motifs have been recently identified in LTR retrotransposons, but their role in the retrotransposon life-cycle is yet to be understood. Therefore, we inserted G4s into the 3'UTR of retrotransposon and measured the frequency of retrotransposition in yeast strains BY4741, Y00509 (without Pif1 helicase) and with G4-stabilization by N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX (NMM) treatment.

Seed Morphology in Based on Geometric Models.

Seed description in morphology is often based on adjectives such as "spherical", "globular", or "reniform", but this does not provide a quantitative method. A new morphological approach based on the comparison of seed images with geometric models provides a seed description in species on a quantitative basis. The novelty of the proposed method is based in the comparison of the seed images with geometric models according to a cardioid shape.

Histone post-translational modifications in Silene latifolia X and Y chromosomes suggest a mammal-like dosage compensation system.

Silene latifolia is a model organism to study evolutionary young heteromorphic sex chromosome evolution in plants. Previous research indicates a Y-allele gene degeneration and a dosage compensation system already operating. Here, we propose an epigenetic approach based on analysis of several histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) to find the first epigenetic hints of the X:Y sex chromosome system regulation in S.

DNA methylation and genetic degeneration of the Y chromosome in the dioecious plant Silene latifolia.

Background: S. latifolia is a model organism for the study of sex chromosome evolution in plants. Its sex chromosomes include large regions in which recombination became gradually suppressed.

cDNA-AFLP analysis of seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana identifies transposons and new genomic sequences.

A cDNA-AFLP experiment was designed to identify and clone nucleotide sequences induced during seed germination in Arabidopsis thaliana. Sequences corresponding to known genes involved in processes important for germination, such as mitochondrial biogenesis, protein synthesis and cell cycle progression, were isolated. Other sequences correspond to Arabidopsis BAC clones in regions where genes have not been annotated.